Love Among the Ruins
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: The first thing I wrote after I beat KHIII, that I'm uploading again. Sora in Shinjuku with Yozora, some Invi and Ava stuff, and Sora missing Kairi/SoKai.


**Love Among the Ruins**

**Sora's PoV**

Sora didn't really know what to make of Yozora… and there was a part of him that didn't even care about that.

…Which was horrible of him, he knew, because he was supposed to be this happy-go-lucky kid who solved everyone's problems.

And Sora knew he should have been thankful he'd gotten a second chance at all... but there was a part of him bitter that he still couldn't be home with Kairi, and instead now had to help Yozora, his friends, and this Stella girl out.

And in some ways, from what he'd seen, the way Yozora treated Stella was frustrating to Sora:

The Keyblade wielder would have said Yozora and Stella reminded him of Kairi and himself a bit (before they'd finally found their way to each other as more than just friends)—with how the two of them seemed to get separated a lot—but Yozora was too aloof: acting like he didn't care about Stella at all. And Sora never would have treated Kairi like that, if his life depended on it.

Yozora's mismatched eyes watched Sora warily now, he could tell—as the two of them tried to figure out how they were going to scale down the roof of Yozora's old home, since Sora had lost his power of Flowmotion—when he finally asked the inevitable: "What's your problem with me, Sora?!"

Despite himself, Sora blanched at this.

To Yozora's credit, he actually hadn't said the words unkindly at all. But since Sora was used to being loved by everyone, having someone with less than pleasant feelings about him took him aback.

Sighing, as he scratched the back of his head, Sora decided that honesty was the best policy here. "...I just want to go home. You might not believe it, because I'm all scrawny now, but I've fought some great wars… I thought I'd earned a chance to finally be at peace with the one- the ones I love. But here I am.

"Though I swear it's not all bad, Yozora," Sora smiled, looking down at the car-lined streets beneath him, and the yellow street lights that reminded him so much of San Fransokyo. "I'm used to this kind of thing. And I'm sure helping you out is my way out of here, so let me aid you. I want to."

"Sora… You were originally going to say 'loved one' instead of 'loved ones', weren't you? You're really thinking about a girl ...I understand."

Without thinking it over, Sora was about to tell Yozora that that was the closest he'd ever heard him come to admitting his feelings for Stella—which the older guy probably would have murdered him for—but before the words could come out, Yozora was already interrupting him.

"You get an intense look in your eyes like I do when I use my powers… or when my emotions are a wreck. Do you have power there? Ya think you could do that to get down?"

Sora put his hands behind his head, trying to make sense of this question that he really couldn't understand at all.

Since when did anyone have magic in their eyes?! And even if he did have that, how was it going to help him descend the stories of floors beneath them safely?

But then it clicked.

Sora doubted it was what Yozora was going for, but he recalled his power to focus on ledges in the air and make a path to them in his mind and actually traverse it.

The brunet still didn't know how he did this—the power of the Keyblade, he assumed. One of the few he'd retained after he'd sacrificed himself for Kairi—but he was sure it would work. Air-stepping it was, then!

Smiling widely, Sora summoned his Keyblade to hand—so he'd have its power flowing through him when he attempted this—and first jumped to the roof on the tower of the castle... and fell through it, the way he had the tree house in the Deep Jungle so long ago (and dang, did it hurt). But then Sora was landing on a rafter, grabbing a chandelier in his hands, and landing on the ground in a tuck-roll.

And Though Sora doubted he could really hear this, since Yozora was too far away for him, he thought the man might have scoffed at his display.

But just as Sora _thought_he had, Yozora portaled right beside him and was quick to read him the Riot Act. "Sora, you ended up in the wrong room! And you- you're already in here with the enemy."

Sora groaned, running a hand down his face as he did so.

There _was_ a good chance the one clad in a blue robe and mask had seen them—and as time seemed to slow down, Sora thought he _did_ see her eyes narrowing in their direction—but it was also possible she wouldn't have noticed them at all, if Yozora hadn't spoken up.

But it was really too late to wonder now.

"You!" their enemy's somewhat raspy voice bellowed, as they summoned their Keyblade and sent shards of ice in Sora and Yozora's direction.

Sora leapt over them, and closer to the assailant like it was nothing. And Yozora teleported onto a wall the moment he'd seen the icicles.

Sora hissed, when he took in the sight of the Keyblade before him and prepared to send a fire spell back the way the blizzard spell had come from.

There had been a few people that Sora had caught glimpses of in this world who looked like they could have had Keyblades, when he saw their weapons in his peripheral vision...

But to for sure see a new person with a Keyblade now, who wasn't a friend Sora knew he could trust, put a sour taste in his mouth.

Sora had hoped that after the Keyblade War, that the number of new wielders would dwindle and Kingdom Hearts would be safer that way.

But yet here this person was, who was clearly a threat as they'd attacked them... and had even taken over Yozora's home.

"Fire!" Sora exclaimed, moving his arm in a wide arc around the flames—as they escaped from his Keyblade—so that the magic coming out of his hand could solidify the pyre in a new trick that he'd learned: It was much like he was using the bombs that Captain Jack Sparrow did: If the fire itself somehow wouldn't hurt one, then this shrapnel for sure would.

Yozora smirked Sora's way-the first bit of approval he'd ever gotten from his rival, that he couldn't help scratching his cheek awkwardly for—and closed the distance between himself and his adversary and placed his crossbows against their neck, as he pinned them to the bookshelf in this makeshift library.

"Name!" Yozora growled. "Name, and I might spare you."

_'__He's asking her name to see if she's a woman__'_, Sora realized then-looking at Yozora with wonder, and banishing his Keyblade at the thought. _'Yozora's... intense. So I have no doubt he'd kill a guy who stole his kingdom, no problem. But it seems he'd hesitate if it's a girl that did it._'

"What?!" the woman—and she _was_ exactly that—demanded, using a thunder spell so powerful that it destroyed the ends of Yozora's crossbows.

Yozora then pulled out a potion to smash against her face in retaliation if need be, Sora saw.

"Just because my outfit got cut in a fight—so it's less form fitting, and makes me seem a bit more masculine that way—means that this big boy wants to kill a little girl?!"

"I should!" Yozora roared, slamming the mystery girl into the novels, whilst she then attempted to kick out at his head.

Sora was horrified by all of this—since murder was still wrong in his book, and he wanted to find a way to resolve this peacefully, if at all possible.

They duo sort of missed out on doing the damage they had meant to do to each other.

And as Yozora was weapon-less, and was keeping the female from using her Keyblade arm, they both were about to claw at the other's face... until Sora begged them to stop:

Because even though Sora was miffed at Yozora, because his feelings were a jumbled mess after coming back to life (and he was jealous he couldn't return to Kairi the way Yozora could Stella, if he manned up), Yozora was still his friend.

And this person... something about her blue—almost purple, in the right lighting—dress reminded Sora of his beloved so much that it hurt. So he just had to save her.

"Stop!" And to Sora's relief and amazement, the villains did.

Encouraged by this—and clearing his throat to get ready for a speech—Sora gave his thoughts on the subject. "Yozora, I may not know you very well yet. But I know this really isn't you. It just can't be."

And Sora may have been imagining it, but he thought Yozora might have looked a bit ashamed by his own actions as those words sank in.

"And, you!" Sora continued on—unintentionally quoting her own word from before—as he began talking with rapid hand movements. "Your tone acted like there was no _way_ Yozora could defeat you, despite you claiming you're 'just a girl', so I get the feelin' you must be an ancient and gifted wielder like Master Xehanort was. But you're lookin' at everything here as if you've never seen it before-like a kid at Christmas-which tells me you must be new coming back to the world like Ven was… and not really onboard with whatever this plan is. So, please: Can't the three of us talk and figure this all out?"

Sora knew that Yozora was about to tell him where he could stick it for even suggesting that, but thankfully the more talented one of the three had a bit more grace.

"The original plan was to give the Master... a seat. A seat of power, because he deserves it and probably needs to be the master of this- of this world after everything he's figured out. But lately, I don't care so much about that as I do finding my sister-who's been missing for ages. Following my Master's plan is the only way I know to do that."

Yozora was the first to react to this, as he let the woman go and even attempted to straighten out where he'd messed up her clothes some.

At first, Sora was baffled by this change of events. But then he remembered that Yozora had friends that he saw as brothers. So anyone who had such a bond would probably look a bit better in his eyes.

Sora couldn't help smiling some himself here, at the thought of his best friend and brother Riku:

How he missed him and the rest of his friends so much…

And Kairi... he missed her most of all. How he prayed that she was okay, and that Riku was taking care of her.

"What's her name? What's she like?" Yozora asked questioningly, with his head tilted to the side. And it pulled Sora back from his reverie, of where he'd been holding a hand out to Kairi—the Kairi in his heart—and trying to find a way to connect with her at all.

At first? It seemed like the woman wasn't going to answer.

And pleadingly, as books fell around him, Sora found himself ready to lay all his cards on the table. "Please tell us! We can help you find her, so you can leave Yozora's kingdom alone and this blood bath can stop."

But just as Sora said this, with his hand under her chin, the woman answered—so they both ended up speaking at the same time. "My surrogate sister's name... is Ava. And she's far too sweet for her own good. But she's also made out of steel, I tell you. I've often thought the blonde and red in her hair was reprehensive of those two traits of hers battling it out... And my name… it's Invi."

Invi... like the word "envy".

Now that Sora knew her a bit better, she reminded him of Naminé—for the time that she had been controlled by the Organization—and for the strength she'd displayed in doing the right thing.

Sora was then certain-that this beautiful lady, with a square shaped chin and button nose that she was now letting them see for the first time—would be the same as Naminé in that way.

"So _will_ you listen to Sora?" Yozora asked the ultimate question as he stared Invi down-his hands on his hips, in a gesture that was somewhere between aggressive and kind. "And will you step down, and help me reclaim my throne?"

Invi shook her head, but Sora could tell she was only slightly hesitating here.

Clenching her fists, she uttered these words: "I won't challenge the Master of Masters directly. He's too strong... he knows too much—and in the end, he may be right about all of this—but at the same time... I _don't_ trust him right now. So I _will_... stop opposing you, Prince Yozora. And if you need information on his coup, I guess I could give you some. But only if you come through with information about Ava."

"He will!" Sora decided for Yozora, before he could for himself. And Sora saw Yozora about to try and strangle him for it, but without much effort. "And I will, too! I think I may know how to find her. Yozora, I'll come back and see this all to the end later. I promise!"

This talk of Ava... it reminded Sora of someone else he'd met recently: Oerba Dia Vanille.

Sora wasn't sure if Vanille _was_ Ava, but he did think Cocoon—that he'd visited after beating the Reapers' Game recently—might be the key to fixing everything here.

Sora had been given one of Chocolina's feathers—who had saved him and his new friends a couple of times lately—and as it reminded Sora of what Jiminy had done for him in his hour of need, Sora thought she might even have another miracle up her sleeve.

Because as Vanille had taught Sora: "When prayers turned to promises, not even fate could stand in their way."

So summoning his Keyblade to hand, Sora opened the gate to Cocoon and was awash in light.

He would fix this—fix the _world_ again—and then he'd find Kairi. He knew he would.

Because she was his light in the metaphorical and literal sense, the way that Stella was Yozora's and Ava was Invi's… they were all connected this way.

Sora felt a hand in his—simply felt it—then closed his eyes and woke up to New Bodhum.


End file.
